


Sacred Zero

by Crexendo



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ichigo is an Arrancar, M/M, Memory Loss, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2018-01-09 19:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crexendo/pseuds/Crexendo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Ichigo had never become a Shinigami at all, but an Arrancar? What if he'd been transformed from human to Arrancar by the power of the Hogyoku, right from the beginning? What if he'd been purged of all his memories of ever being human?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacred Zero

“You summoned me, Aizen-sama?”

“Yes, Ulquiorra. I called you here to tell you that my project is finally complete. He is finally ready. My Cero Espada.”

“Then . . . you wish me to gather the others for his awakening, Aizen-sama?”

“Precisely. Gather all the Espada together so they can all meet the newest member of our family. The strongest Arrancar ever to exist. The one who bears the number zero. It will be a moment to remember.”

“. . . Hai, Aizen-sama.”

“You may go now, Ulquiorra.”

“. . . .”

“So . . . ya actually managed ta do it, Aizen-taicho? Ta turn dat human boy ya foun’ in Karakura Town in’ta an Arrancar?”

“Gin. Have you been lurking there this whole time? No matter. Yes. I have done it. That human teenager we found in the world of the living, who’s soul gave off waves of suppressed reiatsu. For a human to have that much power while alive . . . I’ve not seen anything like it before.”

“Ya were sure dat transformin’ da kid straight from human ta Arrancar was a good idea? ‘E nearly died a couple’a times, right?”

“I will admit that it was dicey at times, but with the power of the Hogyoku, it was possible to change him directly into a Vasto Lorde. His body remained mostly the same as well, same size and shape. He’s so powerful, he doesn’t even have a mask, Gin. His Hollow hole is on the inside of his body as well. The only difference in appearance between him and a regular human, is his stigma and his number. He’s a masterpiece, Gin.”

“Ya sure seem pleased with yerself, taicho.”

“And why should I not be? This boy will become my greatest weapon.”

“Ya mean he ain’t already?”

“He’ll need to hone his skills, Gin. As he is, he is immensely powerful, but untrained. He will likely destroy himself before he dealt the enemy any real damage if we sent him out there without teaching him how to use the mighty power he holds within his body.”

“So who do ya ‘ave in mind ta teach da kid? Or were ya plannin’ on doin’ it yerself?”

“I was planning on letting Grimmjow have at him.”

“Sexta? Yer serious, taicho? ‘E’s a brute. Wild. Untamed. Lil’ more than a beast.”

“Exactly. Grimmjow’s style of fighting will force our Cero Espada to learn more quickly than any other. His ferocity and merciless instincts will drive my new Espada into learning how to survive by fighting back. If there is anything that makes a person fight back, it is the will to survive. I’ve seen it many times before.”

“If ya say so, taicho. ‘E’s your playthin’ after all. Ya can do what ya want wif ‘im.”

“Oh, I fully intend to, Gin. Just sit back and watch the first act unfold.”

~

Grimmjow’s POV-

I honestly didn’t understand what kind of shit Aizen and the rest of his creeper crew were trying to pull. First, they drag all us Espada out of bed at this ungodly hour, into the throne room. Then they announce that they’re going to reveal the new Cero Espada shortly.

Cero Espada . . . they’ve got to be joking. An Espada with the number zero, someone even more powerful than that lazy ass Starrk? It didn’t make any sense, for one, and why the hell was this all so sudden? I mean . . . wouldn’t we have heard about Aizen finding someone more powerful than our Primera? Unless there was something strange going on that the self-proclaimed king of Las Noches didn’t want everyone to know about. Which, at this point, was the only thing that made any sense.

Ulquiorra had been acting weird for some time now, weird for Ulquiorra, that is. Shifty in a sense, like he was being extra cautious or something. Thought I doubt anyone except me, and maybe Harribel noticed. My guess is that he’d known about this so-called Cero Espada beforehand. And of course, Ichimaru had to have known since the beginning, because that fox-faced bastard knew everything, but no one could ever tell what he was thinking about, and no one knew how he figured everything out, but quite frankly, I don’t think anyone wanted to know.

Tousen must have known as well, but the justice freak was too goddamn loyal to say anything unless he’d been instructed to by his master. Tch. The bastard.

Another thing about this whole ‘Cero Espada’ business bothered me. Why hadn’t Aizen just ditched Yammy and bumped everyone down a number, and made him the new Primera, instead of making a brand new position above us other Espada? (Don’t get me wrong, if he’d done that, I would have been pissed as hell and heads would have rolled, but that was the course of action that made the most sense. Right?) Was the Cero Espada really that much stronger than us . . . ?

Just the thought of that made my blood begin to boil in my veins . . . .

~

Uryuu’s POV-

Maybe we should have given up a long time ago, maybe it would have caused us less pain, anxiety, grief and heartache. But this was Kurosaki Ichigo we were talking about. The hot-headed, but compassionate town vigilante who could see spirits and went out of his way to help them. The kind, adoring, protective older brother who treated his sisters like the world’s most precious jewels. He was all that and more, but then, one day . . . he was just . . . gone. 

There were no clues, no signs of forced entry or struggle. Hell, it didn’t even look like Kurosaki himself left the room at all. The door was still locked from the inside and the window was still sealed shut. It was almost as if he’d vanished into thin air, blipped out of existence or something. 

Naturally . . . we panicked. For the first week or two, everyone who knew and cared about Kurosaki, as well as the police, combed every inch of Karakura town, twice, three, four times. No signs of him, not even a hint of his whereabouts. His sisters were devastated, but I knew by the expression on Kurosaki Isshin’s face, that he was thinking of something else at the moment, something dark and mysterious.

Our Shinigami friends, who posed as normal humans most of the time, also helped look with their advanced senses, but not even they could pick up even a trace of Kurosaki’s spiritual residue. His room was also remarkably reiatsu free, which was suspicious, and led Abarai and Kuchiki-san to believe that something of their world, our world really, was responsible for Kurosaki’s disappearance. 

Kurosaki didn’t even know that such things existed. He wasn’t aware that a few of our friends who all mysteriously transferred in at about the same time are all Shinigami, soul hunters, gods of death, who purge monsters called Hollows from the world of the living and allow lingering souls who have yet to mutate into Hollows or be eaten by one to move on to Soul Society, where they wait for the chance to be reborn.

I know what they are. I’ve known since the first moments I saw them. Their spirit threads . . . were crimson red, like blood. The color of Shinigami. The only reason I know that is because I’m a Quincy, a race of humans with special powers developed to hunt down and destroy Hollows. I can sense reiatsu and see spirit threads just like they can. 

Kuchiki-san and Abarai were nice enough, as far as Shinigami go, and while behind everyone’s backs our relationship was much more icy than it was when we were openly interacting with each other. But if they couldn’t find him, then Kurosaki was either dead . . . or not in this world any longer. But the lack of a body pointed to the possibility that someone or something exceedingly powerful had taken the loudmouthed orangette. 

Despite our best efforts though . . . we discovered nothing. Nothing at all. But that doesn’t mean the search for Kurosaki Ichigo is over. No. We’re still searching. Because until we have proof that he’s dead, he’s alive out there somewhere. And it wasn’t me who came up with that, I had been more inclined to believe that he was forever beyond our reach. It was Ichigo’s little sisters, Karin and Yuzu who refused to stop believing that their older brother would one day come home to them. Arisawa, Inoue-san, Sado-kun, and others all were right with them. I just tagged along on the bandwagon, even though I (realistically) had my doubts.

But wherever we went, whenever we went anywhere, I think all of us subconsciously were always scanning the area, looking for that familiar shock of orange hair, as if we were expecting him to show up and grin idiotically, and say, “Hey. What’s up?” as if he’d never been gone in the first place.


End file.
